<
b) We will record your complaint in our central register.
c) We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within two working days of your reply.
Diversity in Our People and Our Services
Elliott Stern Solicitors is an Equal Opportunities employer and does not discriminate on grounds of disability, gender, marital status, age, race, racial group, colour, ethnic or national origin, nationality, religion or sexual orientation. We welcome applications for employment from individuals irrespective of their background and diversity.
If you're looking for legal support and guidance call Elliott Stern Solicitors on
020 8801 0444
or
07977 465333
(24 hours 7 days a week)
Complaints Handling Procedure
At Elliott Stern Solicitors we are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need our clients to tell us about it. This will help improve our standards. Whenever possible, please raise any initial client care problems with the person acting on your case to give them the opportunity of resolving matters with you. Often, matters can be quickly resolved in this way. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the bill, please write or email us for the attention of Elliott Stern with the details. Contact details can be found on the firm’s letterhead or on our website www.elliottsternsolicitors.co.uk. We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints and this is available upon request. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time, or if you are not happy with our handling of your complaint, you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough
SL1 0EH, telephone 0300 555 0333, website www.legalombudsman.org.uk). The Legal Ombudsman will expect you to have given us a chance to resolve your complaint before it will get involved. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
Our Procedure
a) We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within two working days of us receiving your complaint.
b) We will record your complaint in our central register.
c) We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within two working days of your reply.
d) We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:
- We will pass your complaint to either Elliott Stern, our Client Care Manager, or such other member of staff he may nominate, within three working days.
- He will either reply or ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within five working days.
e) If you are still dissatisfied, the Client Care Manager will then, if he feels it necessary, invite you to meet him and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within three working days and will then write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you within two working days of the meeting.
f) If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the Client Care Manager will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include his suggestions for resolving the matter. He/she will do this within five working days of completing his investigation.
g) At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you should contact us again and we will arrange for another solicitor within the firm to review the decision. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
h) If you are still not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. Contact details are as follows:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
0300 555 0333
Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint and within the following timescales:
- Six years from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring, or
- Three years from the date you should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint.
However, the Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness was before 6th October 2010.
i) If we have to change any of the above timescales we will let you know and explain why.
The complaints procedure also includes complaints arising concerning our bill. There may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; and that if all, or part, of a bill remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.
We would hope that this does not become necessary and that we can resolve matters between ourselves. If this is not the case however, we would be happy to provide you with the necessary information to make such a complaint. If we have to change any of the above timescales, we will let you know and explain why.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Click Here
for the SRA Website